Cereal food and process of making same



, convert the bran into a form which is of at,

CARLETOIS ELLIS, MONTGLAIR: NEW JERSEY.

0mm roonniwn reocnss or MAKING sum.

No Drawing. Application filed May 16,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARLETO ELLIS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cereal Foods and Processes of Making Same, of which the followin is a specification.

This invention re ates to a cereal preparation and to the process of making same and relates especially to a breakfast food having desirable physiological properties.

The basis of the foodstuff "is bran in its commercial form incorporated with other carbohydrates preferably of a saccharine character. Ordinarily bran is a highly unpalatable and relatively indigestible substance and an object of the present invention' is to palatable and digestible nature. The bran of course should be free from dirt, and is preferably used as original flakes. This, of course, does not preclude awashing orcooking operation, or does not preclude an operation such as running through rollers to flatten out the flakes. It is to be understood that bran is generally winnowed to remove all the flour.

When bran is incorporated with sugary material, dried'and browned or toasted, the bran loses a good part of its tough fibrous character and becomes crisp and readily masticated. While ordinary sugar or glucose and the like may be employed for the purpose I preferably utilize fruits containing considerable amounts of sugarsuch as figs, dates, prunes, raisins and the like to which, if desired, ordinary cane sugar, glucose, honey or other sugary material may be added-if desired. Preferably raisins are employed with the bran and to prepare the raisins for the purpose they are preferably steamed until soft and pulpy and are then ground or beaten with the bran until thoroughly disseminated through the flakes. When the raisins are cooked for a suflicient period the skins become quite soft and a considerable amount of sugar and other matter are extracted in the .water in which the raisins are boiled. This material may be round if desired or passed into some sort 0% an extruding device so that the skins of the raisins are finely comminuted.- The bran is moistened with this li uor and pulpy material and:- after thoroug incorporation preferably such that on each flake Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 28, 1921.

1919. Serial No. 297,573.

'of'bran one or more fine particles of raisin pulp or skin is attached while the flake itself is moistened by and impregnated 'with the raisin liquor (of course, containing sugary material), the product is dried and preferably parched or-roasted. 'I call attention to the fact that this product consists essentially or largely of separate flakes rather than a cake or biscuit, although two or more of such flakes may stick together. It is desirable to regulate the temperature carefully or to stop the operation at such apoint that the product is not scorched or burned. When the roasting is carried out so that the flakes are preferably browned to a desired extent without being scorched, the individual flakes of bran will be found to curl up forming a brittle product which crushes easily and masticates readily. Moreover instead of the totally unpalatable character of the original tough product has a pleasant flavor very different from the original bran. The product may be "made as concentrated in raisin pulp or other fruit pulp as desired but preferably not over 10 to 20% of dried raisins based on the dry weight of the bran employed is used, this quantity ofraisinsis boiled with water enough to cover the raisins, the boiling or flakes of bran, the toasted steaming being carried out :for an hour, or

so until a soft pulp is obtained. The raisins employed should preferably be seeded prior to use. In like manner prunes or dates from which the pits have been removed may be employed or mixtures of these fruits in order to impart difi'erent flavors to the bran. As stated above it is also possible to add sugar, glucose, honey or other sweetening agents and in like manner malt extract may be used in whole or in part as the sweetening a ent. When such a sweetening agent is employed with the fruit material it is desirable to use at ;,least twice as much of the fruit product as of the su ar, etc.

While it is: possib e also to incorporate with the bran other food materials such as cereals of various types, malted or unmalted so as to make various modifications of the present invention, in the preferred form the invention consists of a compositlon having bran as the essential or main cereal ingredient and a'fruit product or-swee-tening agent as acrisping and flavoring agent such food composition being preferably parched or equal parts .by weight oi bran and raisins absorbed liquid,etc. The present invention may be prepared when a preponderating embraces a product of this character that is raisin flavor is desired, while in other cases to sayone containing curled flakes of branand in the preferred form not over to 20% What I claim is of raisin material is used. The invention 1. The process of makinga cereal prepaf'acontemplates not only products of this chartion adapted for use as a human food Which acter but also embraces the process of makcomprises soaking an amount of bran in a ingsucli products, that is the method of liquid containing a lesser amount 'of sugary '"making' a crisp palatable product from bran material and without destroying the strucbV roasting in the presence of a crisping ture of thebran, and drying the product at agent, namely sugar or fruit products of a a temperature high enough to produce a curlsweet character. 11 its more detailed, phases a ing f he bran fi k s- J the invention involves the cooking of a fruit 2- The process of making a foodstufli' product such as raisins, figs or prunes with adapted for human con mp i n which 0 1 water to produce .a pulp which if desired prises cooking dried fruit with water to' form Y may be ground or comminuted in" case the a pulp, agitating the pulp with a quantity fruit skins require such treatment and the of bran flakes in excess of the quant ty of pulp and liquid mix d ith th er al ai'ruit, whereby the latter is moistened by the terial which preferably i entir l b n, Th fruit liquid and the fruit pulp'is distributed mixture is thoroughly agitated to incorpon throughout the mass, drying and toasting to ate the sugar or' fruit material and prefa brownish color whereby crisp flakes of e erably a sufiicient amount of liquor is emcurled structure are obtained.

ployed to wet the bran throughout so that he P B 0f making a product ineach flake soaks up a small quantity of the tended for human consumption which comsugary' substance. The product is dried and pr s a i g p p fruit gn gthen is preferably roasted as indicated to arysmaterlal with a quantity of bran flakes produce the crisp curled up flakes of the i in excess of the quantity of fruit whereby the sired brownish or yellowish color. Ordinalatter is moistened by theliquids of the pulp rily bran is composed of more or less flat and the latter is distributed throughout the depend on a number of factors, such as temnated with sugary material including fruit flakes or scaleswhich are very tou hand difmass and/in strongly drying the product to ficult to masticate as indicated. 11 the prep oduce crisp flakes having acurled strucferred form of the new product'these norture.

mally fiat bran flakes are curled more or less 4. As a food product, crisp, curled-up, being in some cases slightly warped and in original flakes of bran, such flakes being imother cases curled up into a cylindrical form. pregnated with sugar material.

Between these are found flakes of intermediate shapes. The amount of curling will original flakes-of bran, coat ed and impregperature of the drying'and toasting or roast- ,pulp, such product being toasted-to a brown- CARLETON ELLIS.

ing operation, amount of liquid absorbed'by ish color. the bran flakes, sugar concentration in such N 5. As a food pro uct, crisp, curled-up, 

